One of Elon Musk’s top allies at the General Services Administration (GSA), Nicole Hollander, appears to be scaling back her work for the agency, according to sources and documents obtained by WIRED. Since January, Hollander, who is affiliated with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been working on real estate projects related to federal leases and office buildings for GSA.
The move is part of a purported wind-down for Musk and his leadership team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. On Wednesday, Musk posted on X that his “scheduled time as a Special Government Employee” was coming to an end, and thanked President Trump for “the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.” The post echoed remarks Musk made last month in a Q1 earnings call with Tesla shareholders, where he said he’d be spending just “a day or two a week on government matters.” It’s not yet clear whether those remarks were made to appease Tesla shareholders or truly reflect a decision to scale back Musk’s government involvement.
Steve Davis, a longtime Musk lieutenant, is also reportedly leaving DOGE, according to the Wall Street Journal. Davis has played a key role in Musk’s government operations, including overseeing budget cuts and hiring practices. He’s also Hollander’s partner.
Both Davis and Hollander played an instrumental role in Musk’s Twitter takeover in 2022. During that transition, they moved into the Twitter office building in San Francisco with their newborn baby. Hollander oversaw real estate projects for Twitter (now X), while Davis managed a brutal cost cutting program known as zero-based budgeting. When they were done, the company was almost unrecognizable, with a real estate footprint and employee base a fraction of its former size.
Their time in government has also seen a radical shrinking of the federal workforce, with tens of thousands of employees losing their jobs. Since February, the GSA has been carrying out plans to prepare to sell hundreds of federal office buildings. With Davis and Hollander apparently out, their cost-cutting work seems to be continuing: On May 29, GSA sent out a memo saying it was speeding up the sale or transfer of the Captain John F. Williams Coast Guard building, which is United States Coast Guard’s New England headquarters.
GSA employees say no official announcement has been made regarding Davis and Hollander—and noted they’ve seen multiple members of the DOGE team in the office in recent weeks. Edward Coristine—the young engineer known online as “Big Balls”—appears, for example, to be continuing his government work, scheduling meetings with agencies including the Treasury and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as recently as May 29.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment by WIRED. The GSA also did not respond to a request for comment by WIRED. Hollander, reached via a direct message on X, also did not respond prior to publication.